This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it here.

What kind of sound comes out of $400 earphones? After reading our post announcing their imminent arrival, curious commenters asked me to let them know how these Ultimate Ears triple.fi 10 Pro babies sound, so I got one of the first pairs of these triple driver earphones and reviewed them for Digital Producer. The verdict: these are some skull pounding, magnificent-sounding phones, well worth their steep $400 price and maybe more. The only problem I encountered was the paucity of audio sources that can measure up to their highly accurate sound reproduction.

The only downside was that they're not quite as comfortable as their nearest competitor, the similar-sounding $500 Shure E5c high-end earphones I've been using around these parts for the better part of two years. But I got used to the triple.fi earphones, nestling them snugly into my ears with the included fit kit. Another nicety was their grand arrival enclosed in a swank roadie case with my name embossed on the front.

See a pic of that case and more commentary, after the jump.

This image was lost some time after publication, but you can still view it here.

In one part of my review, I rigged up a testing scenario where I listened to an identical mono signal in one Shure E5c earphone in one ear and one triple.fi 10 Pro earphone in the other, and even after listening to almost every type of music from a variety of sound sources using this system, it was difficult for me to tell the difference between these two worthy competitors. So, I have to give the nod to the triple.fi earphones since they cost $100 less.

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The first batch of a limited edition series of these earphones are just becoming available now, and another batch will be created sometime next month. They're priced identically to the standard edition at $400, but they come with this way-cool roadie case and will be individually marked and numbered as a collector's item.

Nice cans. I'd still be listening to them now, but I gotta work and it's hard to concentrate on anything else with the sound of heaven in your head. Spectacular. 9.6 out of 10 stars.